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"Imagine" by John Lennon
"Imagine" is a song co-written and performed by English musician John Lennon. The best-selling single of his solo career, its lyrics encourage the listener to imagine a world at peace without the barriers of borders or the divisions of religion and nationality and to consider the possibility that the whole of humanity would live unattached to material possessions. Shortly before his death, Lennon said that much of the song's "lyric and content" came from his wife Yoko Ono, and in 2017, she received a co-writing credit. Lennon and Ono co-produced the song and album of the same name with Phil Spector. Recording began at Lennon's home studio at Tittenhurst Park, England, in May 1971, with final overdubs taking place at the Record Plant, in New York City, during July. One month after the September release of the LP, Lennon released "Imagine" as a single in the United States; the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and the LP reached number one on the UK chart in November, later becoming the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed album of Lennon's solo career. Although not originally released as a single in the United Kingdom, it was released in 1975 to promote Shaved Fish, a compilation LP and it reached number six on the chart that year. The photograph on the cover was taken by May Pang in 1974.3 The song has since sold more than 1.6 million copies in the UK; it reached number one following Lennon's murder in December 1980. In 1985, the Central Park Conservancy memorialised a portion of the park in honour of Lennon, called Strawberry Fields, with a mosaic that reads "Imagine" Lyrics 1 Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us, only sky Imagine all the people living for today Ah Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people living life in peace You Chorus You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope some day you'll join us And the world will be as one 2 Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people sharing all the world You Chorus You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope some day you'll join us And the world will live as one Why It Rocks # This song is a beautiful hymn envisioning a utopian world where there is no conflict and everyone agrees. It's perhaps the most recognizable and universally appealing song John Lennon ever released. It has become the anthem of “peace” for generations, with its Garden of Eden-esque quality and a child-like or even animal-like interaction with the surrounding environment, where there is no danger and nothing to fear. It is technically stunning in its simplicity. # The lyrics have very clever wordplay. # The music video is well-edited. # The production is well-done. # Yoko Ono made a cover of this song in honor of her husband some time after his death, which is very sweet of her, even though she normally sings like a dying cat. # The song is very complex. At first listen, it's easy to think of it as a simple ballad, a song of peace and a piano-driven melody. But the call of peace calls for the abolition of what we often cling to most fiercely. It's not a blueprint, with instructions on how to give up some of the parameters by which we define ourselves, but a call for us to imagine something that seems unimaginable in the world we live in. The Only Bad Quality # Corey Feldman did a horrible cover of this song Video Category:1970s Category:John Lennon Songs Category:Soft rock Category:Pop Category:Songs with awesome music videos Category:Songs with Clever Wordplay Category:Songs with Good Message Category:Greatest Moments in Music History Category:Songs that Charted at Number 1